Companies often allow employees to use their own devices, such as smartphones, for work or business purposes. For example, companies can allow employees to send and receive emails on their personal device using their work email account. However, using personal devices for work or business purposes introduces a number of security concerns, such as limiting access to business applications, data, and services to authorized users.
Employers can impose restrictions upon the use of an employee's personal device for business purposes. For example, an employer can specify that an employee have specific applications installed, that specific options or features be enabled or disabled, or that the employee provide administrative access to the employer. However, these restrictions can hinder or limit the employee's ability to use personal applications and access personal data using his or her personal device in the manner that he or she wishes.